School’s wrapping up and football players are looking ahead to summer workouts. Training hard for the upcoming season will pay dividends on the field, but so will making time to rest your body in between workouts.

Jace Derwin, lead sports performance specialist for Volt, knows the importance of proper rest.

“Rest days are important so that the stress from training can be recovered from, and the body can go through the necessary processes to rebuild and become stronger,” Derwin said. “The harder your train, the longer it takes to fully recover from that session.”

Derwin believes that rest allows your body to begin a repair process to the muscle fibers that were stressed during training.

Utilizing available amino acids in the bloodstream, muscles begin to restructure and repair, as well as create new tissue. Athletes should properly progress their training so that stress and recovery are optimized, allowing for the ideal development of strength and lean muscle mass.

During recovery times, Derwin urges players not to forget about stretching.

“Athletes can take advantage of doing some extra mobilization work to help improve recovery,” Derwin said. “Preferentially, performing the couch stretch is a fantastic way to combat the current trends of prolonged sitting in modern daily living. It helps to keep the hips open and actively lengthen soft tissue that can be shortened due to prolonged sitting.”

“Similarly, for the shoulders, performing wall angels and thoracic rotations help to combat poor shoulder mobility – often the culprit of smartphone culture or prolonged desk posture,” Derwin said.

The last piece to the proper weight training puzzle is hydration and eating habits. As your body is resting and recovery, it needs proper fuel.

Volt Athletics and Derwin recommend drinking a normal amount of water to stay hydrated. There's no need to overdo hydration, especially if you are reducing your activity and not needing to replace any lost fluid due to sweating.

Not to be forgotten, avoid processed foods that are empty of proper nutrients. Eating whole, unprocessed foods as well as aiming for a good balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate can help to optimize recovery.

Follow this blueprint to not only be a power in the weight room in the offseason, but also on the field in the fall.